Aibu - Visitor at work with bedbugs

[Lardybumbum]

My bosses friend came to visit us on Friday in our tiny office. It’s literally two desks, a shelf and a sofa. She brought with her a midsize rucksack (that she put on the floor leaning against the sofa) and her jacket (that she put on the sofa beside her). She sat on the sofa and proceeded to tell us she had been bitten by bedbugs in a hostel through the week and she was visibly covered in bites.

I have a fear of bedbugs and fleas etc. I’ve never come across them in real life thankfully so I went into panic mode. Come Monday morning I was out getting bedbug spray and a hoover to try to clean the sofa and hopefully stop any bugs taking up residence.

My boss thinks I’m being ridiculous as her friend was only sat there for a few hours while they chatted. I’ve come home today with two small itchy lumps on my arm. It could be coincidence but I’m spiraling. I know how hard infestations are to get rid of and now I’m worried they’ll be in my home. I hadn’t sat on the sofa between her being in the office on Friday until today after spraying it with pesticide yesterday and hoovering it this morning.(Tuesday)

Can someone please reassure me I’m being unreasonable to worry that I now have bedbugs feasting on me.

yabu - they don’t develop new homes that quickly
yanbu - burn the office down

I don't know the answer but I voted YANBU as I would feel the same way.

If she was in a hostel with bedbugs then she will have (hopefully) washed all the clothes she has with her as well as any bags etc. And they are unlikely to be the same things she had on with her on that occasion

Bedbugs don't live on skin and in hair so just her being near them doesn't mean she brought them in

I have a bunch of medical conditions, including my body over reacting to pretty much every bug bite type I have ever experienced. I have never had the pleasure of a bed bug bite, but I am terrified of them because of my history.

i personally think you under-reacted. I would have walked right out the door the second I found out she brought in her things from an infested location.

She’d come direct from the hostel before moving on, as she doesn’t live in our town.

That wasn't clear in your OP tbh

Oh god bedbugs are a nightmare.

They will likely of been on/in her backpack. Yuk.

I wouldn’t have sat on the sofa at all.

Change out off your work clothes as soon as you get in and wash everything. Take a plastic bag for your stuff into work instead of your normal bag. Increase cleaning in your home just in case. I’d probably do another round of cleaning in the office as well.

Urgh selfish cow.

I'd honestly burn the sofa. I knew someone who had a bedbug infestation and it took nearly 2 years to get rid of them for good. Horrible creatures.

There is a high chance they are in her rucksack and moved from there to the sofa. Bedbugs spread easily via luggage and clothing.

Yeah I think you under reacted. I’d be throwing things away by now.

Pretty sure if you think you might have bedbugs you basically need to strip before entering your home otherwise it could be too late.

Recommend to when travelling store suitcases and such in the bath tub.

I do that anyway thankfully but I’m boiling everything since then just in case.

I'm wondering if I should try to persuade the boss to ditch the sofa. I’ve now read they can wander between rooms looking to feed. Shudder

I dont think its unreasonable to be scared, but i think its unlikely you would be bitten on the arm whilst at work. They feed at night, and like the dark. . You can see them, bigger than fleas. Id be more worried about bringing them home if there are any in your office. Zip your bag and coat pockets up.

Sadly i know far too much about these because my MIL caught bedbugs and i was involved in the huge ordeal of getting rid of them and it is an awful mental strain. We think it came from a sister and her husband suitcase (frequent travelers on cruises) who stayed in MILs bedroom during October. It took till around april or may before she discovered that the rash the gp had looked at, and she had complained of for months and months... wasnt cat allergy as the doctor said!!! . (The new cat also arrived in October). She wakened one night and saw them crawling on the walls.

It only takes one pregnant bedbug hiding in the pocket of a bag to create an infestation in a few months. They detect co2 in your exhaled breath, so if you get them in your bedroom, and think well i will move to another room, they will get in there too. Plus the pregnant ones take themselves off to hide away from the others (widening their hiding places) They crawl on the walls and ceiling, dropping down onto the bed, if you are lucky enough to have a metal bed with legs that they might find difficult to climb up on. They are resistant to washing, needs to be 60 degrees and resistant to a lot of insecticides. It cost several thousand pounds for MIL to get rid of them (a company came and heated the affected rooms to? 50 degrees). You had to remove certain items such as clocks, radios etc from the room making sure no bedbugs inside.

Tumbledrying kills them as long as the cycle is hot for 30 minutes. Hoover the sofa, every cranny, use sellotape in the crevices, throw it in the outside refuse, and throw out the hoover bag or empty and sanitise the dust container. If you have a steam cleaner to do the crevices of the sofa, that would kill any.

Anyone saying that you are a bit too paranoid or that the person is unlikely to have brought them to your office doesnt really know enough. In particular, they will not understand how much work is involved in getting rid of them. It is not like fleas. Fleas are easy by comparison. Im careful on trains and zip up my pockets and Im super careful in cinemas too....and its really put me off any second hand furniture!

My dh got a call from his work saying the flat he’d worked in the previous day had a really bad bedbug infestation. They fumigated his van and gave him sticky pads to put under the bed to see if anything was caught. Luckily we escaped it! We did put his clothes and the whole dirty washing basket (with my favourite jumper in) in the shed for 3 weeks in bin bags. Lots of washing and hoovering.

I think your bosses friend and boss have been very selfish, or just frustratingly ignorant.

so I’d put sticky pads (or sellotape) around the sofa and monitor and keep on washing your work clothes when you get in.

I had a Bed Bug infestation in a tenanted flat.
It had been let for many years and the tenants had no idea how they were introduced.
I was told by the pest control company that the most common method of them being carried is in luggage.
I think you are right to treat this as a serious matter, and be proactive in treatment.
I had a course of 3 professional treatments, which appeared to have worked, only to have the problem come back and need another course of treatment. It cost best part of £1000.

Did you treat the floor also?

Id ask for tge sofa and carpet to be removed and replaced as a precaution.

Thanks everyone.

i’ll spray again and hoover again today. I’ll try
to source a steam cleaner and sellotape the sofa.

the floor is a weird plastic resin stuff so I hoovered it.

It’s pointless tho if my boss doesn’t take it seriously. As it’s only the two of us I have no recourse if she refuses. I’ve not been there long enough to have protections and I’m sure bedbugs aren’t a legit reason to quit for constrictive dismissal anyway.

fingere crossed for today

If you catch some on the sellotape then your boss will have to believe the evidence though?

But they could live in the dark parts of thr woman's bag. If they couldn't be transported around other ppl wouldn't get them. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Sod that, i would be setting fire to the sofa.

None of that will work.
You need to get rid of the sofa and replace the flooring ☹️

Never had them and hopefully never will as I don’t cope well with this kind of stuff. This puts me off bringing in second hand stuff into the house. I wonder how many people have actually had them and how big the risk is of getting them? I’m glad she told you so at least you can up the cleaning!

I asked my NHS health and safety team what to do with regard to seeing a patient with bed bugs. The guidance was to use a room with no fabric or carpet furnishings and then to have the room professionally cleaned immediately after. So, if that's correct guidance, your boss needs a heads up!

BUT what was that woman doing about it as by the time she had taken her backpack here there and everywhere including her home she could have infected quite a few places? and what about the hostel? did she complain? what were they doing I should imagine places like that are rife with the high volume of people luggage etc